Knicks Should Consider Plan B

Defenses Have Caught Up to New York, and Yet Nothing Changes; Kenyon Martin Is In, Brewer Out

ENLARGE

The Knicks had a hard time watching their loss to Indiana the other night. They say they need more effort, but they might need a new game plan.
Reuters

By

Chris Herring

Feb. 21, 2013 8:26 p.m. ET

TORONTO—In the moments that followed their most embarrassing defeat of the season—one in which the offensively challenged Indiana Pacers embarked on a slam-dunk deluge and essentially scored at will—the Knicks spoke again of how they played without passion. They suggested things would have been different had they just shown a little more effort.

Perhaps delusion is part of the problem.

Over the past two months—a span in which the team has played .500 basketball—the Knicks have been a stubborn bunch that seemingly refuses to alter its game plan despite previous opponents having laid out a blueprint that details precisely how they can be beaten.

The Pacers' defense took advantage of that Wednesday, harassing the Knicks into the most difficult shots one play after another. The strategy was simple. They took away the Knicks' top offensive options: the pick-and-roll and one-on-one plays through star scorer Carmelo Anthony.

The Pacers lead the league in defensive efficiency and align themselves in a way that limits shots from the painted area and the 3-point line. They're often willing to surrender difficult midrange shots in between those spots, about 10 to 23 feet from the basket. As such, the Knicks went 6-for-20 from that distance in the loss, according to Hoopdata.

That wasn't coincidence; most teams have been able to take the Knicks out of their offensive preferences lately. According to Synergy Sports, the Knicks have run the pick-and-roll play, which tends to induce fluid ball movement, just 24% of the time in February, down from 28% in December. Additionally, they've created fewer isolation plays for Anthony, who's gone one-on-one just 21% of the time, a steep drop from 35% in December.

As a result, players are taking tougher shots. This month alone, 24.2% of the Knicks' attempts have come from 16 to 23 feet, up from just 19.4% prior.

Players are aware that defenses have caught up with them.

"They're looking at the scouting report," said guard Raymond Felton, whose production has fallen in February. "Teams figure out what you like to do early, and then you've got to do something else. Teams are taking [easy shots] away."

Most every team goes through a rut at some point. But the quality of the adjustments made during that span often determines which teams make it out of them.

Former Knicks coach Bob Hill was faced with one in 1996, when he led the San Antonio Spurs. Like this year's Knicks, they jumped out to a hot start, at 25-9, before going 11-9 over the next 20 contests.

At the All-Star break, Hill decided to discard plays he no longer felt were working. Shortly after, the Spurs went on a 17-game win streak en route to a 59-win season.

"You have to constantly look at things to see what's efficient and what's not, because most players won't do that on their own," said Hill, speaking generally.

But aside from a couple of minor deals Thursday—the Knicks traded away guard Ronnie Brewer for a future draft pick and signed free-agent forward Kenyon Martin as a backup—no adjustments appear to be on the way.

Coach Mike Woodson has been prone to let his ball-handlers go into the teeth of the defense when the offense goes awry, and he says a lineup change isn't in the offing.

Anthony didn't see the scheme changing, either. "We're going to continue running our sets," he said, adding that the Pacers debacle—the second time the Knicks lost in ugly fashion in Indianapolis—was just an off shooting night.

The stubbornness is apparent on the defensive end, too. And ironically, the Knicks are being battered with the same things they're no longer getting on offense: the pick and roll, and occasional isolation.

Repeatedly, opposing point guards in recent weeks have gone off on the Knicks, exposing the team's lack of lateral quickness there.

But the Knicks have shown they can counter. During a win in Boston last month, they held the Celtics to 86 points by using a 3-2 zone for 44 possessions. For whatever reason, though, they haven't used a zone more than three times in a game since then.

Woodson often bemoaned a lack of practice when asked about the Knicks' flat showings. But with just 50 games before the break—tied for the least of any team in that stretch—they actually had more free days than almost any other team to get things straightened out.

But even if they'd had more practice time, expecting that to fix things seems like the equivalent of putting a Band-Aid over a broken bone.

Going over the basics might help things in theory, but the body of work suggests that the Knicks would benefit more from developing a new approach.

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